Though the Giro d'Italia is usually
overshadowed by the Tour de France, it's nonetheless one of the three
Grand Tours (along with the Vuelta a España) and it's often
more exciting than the Tour. 2005 is no exception, as the Giro
demonstrates more of what a stage race should be like: a race with
several serious contenders for the overall victory, and an
interesting mix of stages that delivers important action day in and
day out.

From the beginning, the Giro
benefits from having several credible contenders for the maglia rosa:
Discovery's Paulo Savoldelli (the winner in 2002), CSC's Ivan Basso,
and Lampre's fearsome pair of Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego
(also both previous Giro winners). This is crucial, because the worst
thing that can befall a stage race - meaning a race that's contested
over multiple days, or stages - is for it to become a one-horse race.
When one rider is vastly stronger than the others, the race can
degenerate into a race for second place, with a resulting lack of
excitement. Here, though, there's always the sense that any of the
big names can seize upon the weakness of another and vault up into
first place overall.

As is usually the case, the first
week sees the pink jersey in the hands of the "fast men" of
the peloton, while the main contenders bide their time waiting for
the roads to tip upwards into the mountains, where the real
challenges begin. This year's Giro sees some very exciting action in
the mountains: early on, what seems like an unbreakable grip on the
maglia rosa turns out to be not so tight after all, and we see some
major shakeups in the general classification. It's great to see the
big names making the action happen with attacks rather than just
sitting back and letting their team push the pace. It's even better
when Basso, Simoni, Savoldelli, Cunego, and (unexpectedly) Danilo Di
Luca aggressively push each other around and keep the time
differences relatively small between them. Some of the riders
eventually blow up, while others continue to chase hard for the
victory up to the very end.

There are some interesting choices
of route for the stages of the 2005 Giro, most notably the
penultimate stage from Savigliano to Sestriere. This brutal route
with a mountaintop finish ncludes a never-before-used passage up the
Colle della Finestre, giving us scenes that look like they came
straight out of Fausto Coppi's day: winding routes and steep climbs
up unpaved roads that look like they're more suited for mountain
goats than racing cyclists. On the eve of the ride in to Milan, it
gives the Giro one more day of excellent attacking action, as the
riders who are only a little bit behind the lead give it their all to
take the maglia rosa.

I've often noted that the sprints in
the Giro always seem to be more exciting than their counterparts in
the Tour, and in 2005 it's no exception. The early sprint stages of
this year's Giro are notable in being a little tricky, with things
like unexpected rises to the finish line or twists and turns rather
than rail-straight lanes in the final kilometer. As a result, Fassa
Bortolo's superstar sprinter Alessandro Petacchi has it tough: even
with a squad devoted exclusively to leading him out in the sprints
(Fassa didn't even bring a contender for the general classification)
Petacchi finds that victory can be frustratingly elusive at first. In
the straight-up sprints Erik Zabel is a strong contender, the more so
because he's facing up to Petacchi's blue train on his own, with no
lead-out men supporting him from his own team, T-Mobile. What makes
the early section of the Giro most interesting, in my mind, is the
efforts of Classics stars Danilo Di Luca and Paulo Bettini. Normally
these riders shine in the one-day events rather than in the stages of
a three-week tour, so it's fun to see them mixing it up here and even
taking the maglia rosa.

World Cycling Productions' coverage
of the 2005 Giro is excellent overall. For the most part, the stages
are edited to perfection, with just the right amount of racing action
shown, whether that's just showing the last few kilometers on a
sprint stage or giving us more than an hour of coverage on a key
mountain stage with lots of attacking action. I did find that one of
the middle mountain stages was given a bit too much attention, with
long stretches that don't have anything interesting happening, but
apart from that, the pacing is handled quite well. Considering that
the race is given a substantial five hours of running time, that's a
sign of both an exciting race and good editing. Phil Liggett and Paul
Sherwen provide the commentary, as usual, and do an excellent job of
it.

The DVD

The 2005 Giro is a three-DVD set,
packaged in a double-wide plastic keepcase. Unfortunately we have
spoilers galore on the cover, the title, the third DVD's cover art,
and the menus. Sigh. Considering that these races have excellent
replay value, it would be better to not get reminded of who won on
which year. The chapters are useful, though.

Video

The Giro is presented in a
respectable transfer at its original television broadcast aspect
ratio of 1.33:1. The picture is clean and clear, though at times a
bit soft; it's not as crisp as some of the other races of the year.
The colors are uniformly excellent, though, and that's essential for
a bike race, with all those colored team jerseys. It's also nice to
note that there are very few instances of "picture break-up,"
even though that's strictly a source issue and doesn't have anything
to do with the transfer.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is clean
and sounds pleasant, with Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen's commentary
always crisp and easy to understand. The race ambiance is nicely
balanced to give some background flavor behind the commentary.

Extras

A start list with all the teams and
riders in the Giro is printed on the back of the cover insert, and is
visible through the clear plastic case. Otherwise, there are no
special features.

Final thoughts

The Giro d'Italia always promises a
fun ride, and usually delivers handsomely on the promise. 2005 is no
exception, giving us an exciting race with the maglia rosa contested
among several strong contenders, several of whom had already proved
themselves capable of winning the Giro. WCP's coverage of this year's
Giro is excellent; it could have been tightened up just a little bit,
but overall the five hours of racing here are full of interesting
action. Highly recommended.